


Five Times Percival Carried Merlin

by RayneSummer



Series: Round Table Knights + Merlin [5]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Episode: s04e01-02 The Darkest Hour, Episode: s05e04 Another's Sorrow, Gen, The other knights are just sort of there/metioned, this has been planned for a while but i finally got around to starting to write
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:19:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24962902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RayneSummer/pseuds/RayneSummer
Summary: The big knight was a kind man of few words, and though they had only met him a short while ago, he had already made good friends of many, including present company..or, Mostly the adventures of Gwaine and Merlin and Percival trying to keep them in line
Relationships: Gaius & Merlin (Merlin), Gwaine & Merlin (Merlin), Gwaine & Percival (Merlin), Merlin & Percival (Merlin)
Series: Round Table Knights + Merlin [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1813621
Comments: 13
Kudos: 164





	1. The Rabbit

**Author's Note:**

> This has been an idea for a while, but I only just got motivation for the first one. It's going to be tied into 4.02 and 5.04, the two onscreen times Percival did carry Merlin. I just like the idea. Plus Percival is a sweetie and I like his relationship with Gwaine.

It was a little unusual for it just being the three of them out, but Gwaine and Percival were meant to be part of a patrol that had left without them (not related to the two being in the tavern until late last night) and they had run into Merlin in the castle corridors who’d mentioned he was going to collect herbs.

So the three of them found themselves wandering through the forest just outside of the city walls in a companionable silence.

Amusingly, it wasn’t a bandit attack that cut their trip short.

As Merlin walked along the edge of a small hill-cliff sort of thing looking for a certain flower that grew in the rocks along the side, he jerked his head up at a yell.

“What was that?!” Came Gwaine’s voice as he and Percival appeared in the clearing from the trees they’d been scouting nearby.

Merlin frowned at the two, who weren’t looking panicked precisely, but rather alert.

“It was small,” Percival said quietly. He was a quiet man. Gwaine chuckled and nodded over to Merlin in reassurance.

“Careful over there,” he said in good humour, “There’s a little devil about—”

And just as Merlin was going to roll his eyes at the casual warning, a rabbit suddenly jumped out of the bushes nearby, making them all jump (which, given that two thirds of the party were knights of Camelot, would be amusing to any onlooker). Unfortunately, Merlin was, naturally, on the edge of a ditch.

He felt his foot slip and yelped, drawing the attention of his friends who could only watched, wide-eyed as Merlin tumbled down the small hill, or cliff, or whatever you wanted to call it.

Thankfully it wasn’t very far, but, naturally, Merlin’s head managed to hit a rock at the bottom. Of course. He heard the knights yell before pain pounded and it all turned black.

-

He woke less than a minute later, and he knew it wasn’t long, because the first thing he saw was Gwaine in a not-quite controlled slide coming down the hill, with Percival right behind him.

Merlin groaned as Gwaine reached him, and put a hand to his head where it felt sticky, not wanting to move beyond that.

Squinting at his fingers as he pulled them away, sure enough there was blood dotted on the skin. He groaned again, because once the knights knew he wasn’t badly hurt, he was never going to hear the end of this.

Gwaine chuckled as he crouched beside his friend. “That was quite the tumble.” He paused. “For a rabbit,” he continued with a grin, subtly eyeing Merlin over to ascertain that there was no other injury than his pride.

The boy scowled at him, ignoring the pain. It wasn’t too bad, and he took a breath before struggling to sit up. “Don’t tell Arthur,” he warned, or whined, or even pleaded.

Percival offered him a hand, smiling, and Merlin took it gratefully as Gwaine straightened up, reaching out as Merlin stumbled a little once upright.

“Although, talking of our mighty prince, he won’t be too happy if we return you in this state,” Gwaine mused, and there was a glint of humour in his eye as he glanced at Merlin, who frowned suspiciously. “Percival,” he addressed the big man instead, and gestured to Merlin. “To keep our friend here in one piece on the way back, do you think you could give him a lift?”

Percival grinned and before Merlin could realise what they meant, he was taken off his feet quite literally by the bigger knight, who draped him across his shoulders as he struggled.

“It’s for your own good, mate,” Gwaine said, much too amused by the situation, as he ruffled Merlin’s hair and ignored the glare.

“I’m _fine,_ now put me down,” he grunted through gritted teeth as the knights began to walk back towards the castle.

They both ignored him and instead started chatting about the weather. Merlin let his head drop onto Percival’s back and sighed. What did he do to deserve this.

-

They weren’t far away at all, and Gwaine begrudgingly let Percival put the servant down once they approached the palace, agreeing that if someone saw them and alerted Arthur, the prince would lose his royal mind.

Merlin blushed slightly at that but didn’t have time to respond before another knight called Percival away. The big man gave Merlin a friendly clap on the shoulder that nearly brought him to his knees and nodded at Gwaine as he headed away.

He was kind man of few words, and though they had only just met a few weeks ago, many had already made good friends of him. Including present company.

Gwaine waved in reply then turned back to Merlin, who was rather hoping he could just get on with his day. “Ah-ah. Not so fast.” He bodily took hold of his friend’s arm and started leading him in the opposite direction. “I’ve no wish to be under Gaius’ anger either.”

Merlin did roll his eyes this time, and tried again to protest, but Gwaine ruffled his hair (why was that a thing with knights?) and ignored him good-naturedly until they reached the court physician quarters.

He greeted Gaius cheerfully and pushed Merlin towards him. “Fell down a hill because of a rabbit,” he reported, much too amused.

Gaius, for his part, was mostly used to the new shenanigans that went on, and just sighed, approaching his ward and taking a shoulder to push him down to sitting on a bench, equally ignoring the boy’s claims of being fine.

Merlin huffed as Gaius stood over him and tilted his head to see the wound. “Is anyone going to listen to me,” he grumbled. Gwaine, standing nearby and looking like he’d saved the damsel in distress, chuckled.

“Did he lose consciousness?” Gaius asked, mildly wiping the blood away from the injury with a cloth from the table. It added to Gwaine’s humour that the physician wasn’t addressing his ward directly.

“No,” said Merlin stubbornly, the same time as Gwaine said, “Yes.”

Gaius paused and raised an eyebrow.

“Only for a few seconds,” Merlin relented. Gaius gave him a look and went back to cleaning the wound, looking it over critically. At length, he stepped back and eyed his ward.

“I’m fine, and I’ve got a lot to do, so can I go?” Merlin said immediately, already shifting on the bench.

Gaius frowned at him sternly and Merlin dropped his gaze, only to look back up at his guardian’s next words. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

Merlin barely glanced at him before glaring at Gwaine, who looked much too delighted about this afternoon’s events. “Three,” he answered shortly, then, looking back, “See? It’s fine.”

He made to move this time, and Gaius immediately put a hand on his shoulder. “For goodness’ sake Merlin, stay still for a minute,” he admonished, and Merlin sighed but obediently stayed sat when Gaius removed his hand. “You’re getting some honey on that cut and then we’ll see,” he continued, and nodded to Gwaine as he drew back to find the salve.

Gwaine moved in, looking much too happen at his friend’s misery. “Wow, mate. I had no idea you were such a bad patient,” he said in amusement.

Merlin scowled at him. “Yes you did,” he muttered.

Gwaine considered and nodded. “Alright, I did,” he agreed, and grinned.


	2. Stairs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Merlin was well-known as clumsy, so it wasn't surprising he didn't even need to leave the castle to find trouble.

"Put me down, I already told you, I'm fine - put me down, Percival!"

Gaius lifted an eyebrow as the commotion drew nearer and the door opened to reveal, sure enough, a knight with a struggling servant in his arms.

“Fell down the stairs.”

What Gaius could see of Merlin’s face arranged itself into a scowl. “And I hurt my arm, not my legs, so—”

Before either of them could do anything, Merlin shoved at Percival’s chest sharply and ended up tumbling to the ground, yelping when he landed on his apparently injured arm. Naturally.

Percival had the grace to look a little sheepish as he knelt to offer his friend a hand up and got a grumpy glare before he was allowed to pull Merlin to his feet.

Gaius sighed, drawing the attention of both men, and gestured with a resigned nod of his head at a bench nearby. “Sit yourself down and let me see what you’ve done now, young man.”

His tone was firm but Merlin, keeping his reputation as never doing what he’s told (according to Arthur at least), tried to take a step back. He only succeeded in bumping into the big knight’s barrel chest as he stood expectantly behind him.

“I’m fine,” Merlin said, which was quite bold of him considering he was now actively holding his right arm - that he’d at this point landed on twice – close to his chest to stop it moving and causing more pain. Gaius gave his ward a Look that Percival, though it wasn’t aimed at the knight, wilted under.

Merlin was apparently more immune to the intimidation, probably due to years of receiving similar looks before or during or after his usual shenanigans.

Valiantly, he tried to side-step the tree trunk of a knight behind him and back up, but Percival put a heavy hand on his uninjured shoulder and raised an eyebrow.

“I’ll pick you up again,” he said quietly. “And tell Gwaine about this,” he then added as an afterthought. And that, more than anything, coaxed Merlin to slowly approach the bench where Gaius stood patiently next to.

Hesitantly, he took a seat and glanced back at Percival, who couldn’t help an amused expression.

“Do not tell Gwaine I fell down the stairs because I was looking at flowers.”

Percival shrugged innocently. “That’s more embarrassing than not even having to leave the castle to get into trouble?”

Merlin grimaced as Gaius bent his elbow after rolling up his sleeve, checking for any damage to the joint. When a brief examination showed no more than a pattern of colourful bruises going up his forearm, the physician looked up to raise an eyebrow at the boy.

“You were only meant to be going to pick herbs,” he said with an air of exasperation, as he gently pressed his thumb into skin further up the arm to find any more injury to the limb.

“Well, Gwen saw me in the corridor and gave me these flowers she’d found.” Merlin looked stubbornly pleased about the fact.

On his way out now his charge was delivered safely, Percival let out a soft chuckle, and grinned at Merlin’s frown before stepping out the door to leave the uncooperative patient to his guardian.


	3. Dorocha

Merlin was hit. Or, according to Arthur, he had jumped at the dorocha, been thrown across the room, and slammed into the stone wall.

They all thought he was dead, frost caking his face, until he had suddenly taken a breath and at the same time, his eyes rolled back and he was unconscious without a word.

Arthur, voice shaking though no one dared to point it out, commanded the knights to head back out and gather what blankets they could to their makeshift camp. Leon and Elyan hurried off, but Gwaine joined Lancelot and Arthur with crouching by Merlin. Percival, unsure what to do, stood hesitantly near the doorway to the room.

Lancelot gently used the edge of his cloak to wipe the frost away from Merlin’s face.

“We need to get him warm,” the knight said quietly, because Arthur seemed transfixed by staring at his servant’s lax expression, face paler than white, lips blue with shallow breaths.

The prince managed to blink up at them, and struggled with himself for a moment before nodding. “Yes… yes, of course.”

He glanced around and spotted Percival, and beckoned him over while standing himself. Percival dutifully stepped forward, waiting for instruction.

“Can you carry him out to the courtyard?” It clearly cost something for Arthur to ask someone else to be entrusted with Merlin when he was not his usual self. Percival just nodded solemnly in reply.

They turned to where Gwaine and Lancelot were still crouched, talking quietly.

“He was like this after the feast,” Lancelot was saying softly, voice tinged with worry. “We don’t have hawthorn, but Gaius said lots of blankets.”

Gwaine looked like he would very much like to grab every covering in a five mile radius. After another glance at Merlin, his expression guarded but clearly concerned at the state of his best friend, the knight nodded and stood, hurrying out the door without a glance at the other two.

“Percival.” Arthur gestured awkwardly to where Merlin lay, and the big knight nodded again. “I’d do it myself but… it’ll be easier for you to move him less,” he said helplessly, as if he thought Merlin could get further harmed by anything like being carried right now.

Carefully, Percival knelt beside the boy and brought an arm under his knees and under his back. With slow precision, he straightened up with Merlin in his arms.

The three walked out of the ruins and the few steps to the courtyard where Gwaine was taking blankets from Elyan and laid one out as a bedroll of sorts leaning against a crumbled wall. The three had also removed their cloaks and added them to the meagre blanket pile Gwaine put down beside the bedroll.

Just as carefully as before, Percival approached the area and put Merlin down with utmost care, leaning him against the wall a little. The only movement the boy made to indicate he was aware of the changing positions was a slight intake of breath as he was settled down.

Lancelot immediately started unfolding the few blankets and cloaks the knights had collected and tucked them around Merlin's form with urgency. 

Gwaine helped, taking the other end of the material and hastily making sure Merlin was covered. His hands were shaking, but no one commented on it despite the silence. It lengthened as the sun slowly rose, lighting the place in a weak light. 

Merlin woke, feeling like he'd been dragged to consciousness and would really rather embrace the dark. But he couldn't seem to talk, or barely react. He was slumped against the wall, Lancelot trying to keep a blanket on him, eyes open but dull, looking deathly ill.

Eventually, Leon turned to Arthur when the prince spoke about getting Merlin to Gaius - if there was anything to be done, the boy's guardian could do it.

Percival listened vaguely, and crouched by Merlin, offering to help hold him up so, after giving him a grateful look, Lancelot could straighten and address the talking knights with his idea. Though it dearly costed Arthur to agree, he knew it was for the best.

And so the knights found themselves walking in some sort of formation around Percival, who had Merlin in his arms again. The boy had passed out as he was lifted; he'd been drifting in and out of consciousness since the attack, and had barely any strength of his own.

The big knight set his friend, as gently as he could, on a horse, and let his hand linger on the boy for just a moment, trying to will Merlin to draw strength from his own. Then he stepped back, allowing Arthur to approach.

From the other side of the horse, where Gwaine was lightly tying Merlin onto the animal, Percival met the other knight's grim gaze.

Even if they survived, this was not a moment they would forget.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This started okay but kind of went downhill so I just rushed to finish it. I probly could have watched the episode in the background and made it better but. It also would've ended up rlly long probly so.


	4. Training Fall

The knights trained pretty much every day, unless there was a bad storm, or some kind of threat to the city, or they were out hunting, or they were otherwise busy.

Well, they tried to train every day.

And since none of the above were happening, and it was a fairly bright, nice, day, the knights were dutifully out training with their prince regent.

It had been a few weeks since they’d lost one of their own and everyone was still getting used to life as a close knit group of down to six – obviously including their prince and his stubborn manservant.

Who, no matter what anyone did, still seemed to constantly find trouble absolutely everywhere. He didn’t even need to leave the castle sometimes. It would be impressive if it wasn’t so concerning.

But, on a normal day, out at the training field with the knights and Arthur, most of the men shared the idea that surely Merlin couldn’t get into too much of a problem.

Typically, they underestimated him.

As Gwaine sparred with Percival, grinning and dodging and both of them making conversation as though there weren’t swords in their hands being thrusted at each other’s throats every now and again, the two allowed themselves to enjoy the moment.

Then there was a yelp and they both quickly dropped the weapons to spin around, searching out any kind of threat.

“Sounded kind of like a dog,” Gwaine commented, amused, as his gaze fell on the source – Merlin was on his arse, with Arthur standing over him waving his armoured arms around in what was probably frustration.

Gwaine sighed and glanced at Percival, who shrugged, and they simultaneously drove their practice swords into the mud and wandered over.

Naturally, Merlin was taking absolutely no notice of whatever Arthur was ranting on about; instead, he was sitting up and peering at his ankle with a grimace, carefully checking it with his hands. Gwaine crouched down beside him cheerfully, also ignoring Arthur.

“Hey. What you doing down here?”

Merlin glanced up at him with a frown. “Nothing,” he muttered, which was rather bold of him considering his entire stance suggested he had been hit and fallen and hurt his ankle.

Being considerate, Gwaine decided to point this out. “Really? Because it looks like you were hit and fell and there’s something wrong with your ankle,” he said.

The servant scowled but didn’t contest the comment, since he was once again busying himself with prodding at the offending limb while Gwaine watched with mild amusement, letting him stall for time.

Above them, Arthur had finally stopped raving and Gwaine glanced up in interest to see him and Percival staring down at them, the latter with light concern.

“Are you going to get up?” Arthur said in a voice that was clearly trying to hard not to sound at all bothered or worried about the situation.

Almost at the same time, Percival said, “Do you need a hand?”

Merlin huffed and sat back, looking up and immediately blinking and squinting from the sun that was in his eyes. Percival kindly moved so his bulk shadowed the servant, allowing him to see them with being blinded.

“Looks like you got me, sire, well done,” Merlin said dryly, gesturing to his prone ankle. Arthur’s brow furrowed in what Gwaine liked to call his annoyed but actually worried expression. He was good at Arthur’s different faces at this point.

So was Merlin, if he slight amused look was anything to go by.

Arthur sniffed. “You probably did that when you fell over,” he said in an overconfident voice that was trying not to be concerned.

“Maybe, after you hit him,” Gwaine rolled his eyes when he got a frown for that.

Leon and Elyan at this point had given up their own sparring and came over to find out what the fuss was about, the latter raising an eyebrow when he took in Merlin on the floor. Leon, the ever dedicated knight, glanced in brief concern at Merlin, then looked politely to the prince for an explanation.

“Arthur broke his ankle,” Gwaine said when no one seemed willing to speak up.

Merlin, who was stroking said ankle in an effort to lessen the pain, scowled up at him. “It’s not broken,” he said stubbornly.

“I didn’t do anything,” Arthur added, sounding like a cross between outraged and a spoiled child who refused to be blamed for things. Gwaine shrugged and grinned under the combined glare of both prince and servant.

After a moment, Arthur rolled his eyes, observed Merlin in poorly veiled concern, and cleared his throat in an attempt to sound in control of the situation.

“Well, regardless. Percival, Gwaine, help Merlin to Gaius. The rest of us will carry on training.”

Leon nodded politely; Elyan shrugged. They both gave Merlin a friendly nod to get better soon, then retreated, along with Arthur, who hung back just for a moment.

“Actually listen to Gaius if he says you can’t work tomorrow,” he addressed Merlin warningly, “I’ll know.”

Merlin did that thing where he nodded as if he listened but actually would definitely not do what was asked. After another thoughtful glance and an obvious visual once-over, Arthur left to join the other two knights.

Gwaine snorted. “Thought he’d never leave,” he muttered good-naturedly. Merlin mock-frowned at him. “You sure it’s not broken?” Gwaine asked, nodding at the ankle.

The warlock shifted and nodded, even though he was wincing a lot. Gwaine wasn’t convinced, but he wasn’t the physician here.

“Hm.” He glanced up at Percival, who was waiting patiently. “Well, Perce, let’s—”

“Oi.” Gwaine turned back to Merlin expectantly. “No. I can walk,” he interrupted, and in a surprising show of stubbornness, even for Merlin himself, began to try to lift himself off the ground.

Gwaine rose slowly with him, and when they got about half way up, Merlin accidently put some weight on his bad leg, and made what Gwaine could only describe as a strangled squeaking noise as he started to go down and probably injure himself further.

Percival easily caught him the same time as Gwaine grabbed onto an arm, stopping the descent in its tracks. They waited patiently as Merlin breathed hard, impressively pale given his usual complexion. Percival glanced at Gwaine for instruction. He held up a finger, grin on his face, still waiting.

After a moment, Merlin raised his head, squinting in the sun again, to see the two knights staring at him in expectation. He grit his teeth. “Alright, fine.”

Gwaine’s grin widened and he nodded at Percival. “Excellent. Up and at ‘em,” he intoned, stepping back as Percival hefted Merlin into his arms, cheeks going from white to pink as he wrapped at an around the knight’s neck to keep steady. He draped the other arm over his eyes in an attempt to block out the situation.

The three headed back to the castle, Gwaine cheerfully leading the way, chattering as they walked.

“I don’t know what you’re still so embarrassed about,” he commented brightly as they walked up some stairs, “this has got to be the, hm, fourth time Perce has carried you.”

He glanced at the big knight for confirmation, who nodded with a smile. “I think so, yes.”

Merlin groaned. “I hate you both,” he murmured, arm still over his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This started getting pretty long and it was going well but I'm currently in the habit of cutting things off at a good point even if i have more to write bc it'll probly get messed up if i just ramble on so.


	5. Sorrow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, this is taken and edited from the fic I wrote all about this very scene, because I wanted to get this story finished and also keep in teh canon that I've already written. But I've focused it more towards Percival and Gwaine, and I still love them and them looking after little brother Merlin, and it's great.

Merlin had been muttering about bad feelings all throughout the journey to save Rodor. Everyone had, for the most part, ignored him. Gwaine and Percival had exchanged wary looks every now and again while they rode through the forest, knowing that more often than not, the boy’s strange awareness of something bad happening, became truth. 

When they stopped for a break, he’d helped Mithian off her horse, gone off with Gaius to get water, and came back looking frustrated and troubled, casting odd glances over at the princess and her elderly companion.

Come morning, Mithian had approached him hesitatingly and Gwaine watched them talk for a second out of the corner of his eye, amused. Merlin kindly went back off to the stream to get her water, and Gwaine thought nothing more of it until Mithian approached him with worry a short moment later and asked if he'd seen Hilda. Gwaine shook his head.

"Can't say I have," he replied good-naturedly, giving her a reassuring smile because the poor girl had been looking devastated whenever she thought people weren't glancing her way.

Her expression just increased in concern and she wandered away from him, into the ruins they had chosen to stay in last night. Gwaine watched her go, frowning slightly. There was certainly something off about the entire thing. Merlin’s feelings may yet be proved right. He caught Percival’s eye across a ruined wall, who gave him a worried look.

But before Gwaine could consider anything any further, Arthur called from somewhere just outside the ruins.

"Finish packing up. We're heading out."

Gwaine resisted rolling his eyes at the king's This-Is-My-Important-Voice seriousness but reminded himself that it wasn't just their friend group here - there were other knights too, and also their guests, so to speak. But then he then started muttering names as if taking a register, and Gwaine did roll his eyes. Until he got to Merlin.

When Leon shrugged in response to having seen the servant, Arthur sighed in an annoyed fashion and called out, slightly louder, "Merlin." As though expecting the man to just run up and call him a prat or something.

To be honest, Gwaine was expecting something of the sort as well. But instead, there was a different reply.

"Here. He's here."

And that was definitely concerning, because that was certainly not Merlin’s voice, and that could only mean trouble.

Gwaine gave a grim glance towards Percival, who met his eyes then rushed out of the ruins, as he was closer to the forest. Gwaine hurried after him, barely noting Gaius following with an equally concerned expression, stopping just outside the ruins as Gwaine carried on. Percival was already heading out to the surrounding forest and Gwaine hurried to catch up with the big knight, who glanced briefly at him again, mouth pursed in a straight line. Maybe Gwaine hadn't been the only one to notice something amiss.

They didn't speak as they strode quickly towards where the call had come from. It was almost to the river when they saw someone clad in a black cloak, and Gwaine almost drew his sword before the figure turned around. It was Hilda, but that wasn't particularly reassuring. Even less reassuring was Merlin, on the ground next to her.

Now, Gwaine wasn't an unreasonable man. But frankly he considered anyone, even an old woman, who was standing next to his best friend who was unconscious and clearly hurt, something of a suspect in the situation. And that wasn't an unfair assumption to make.

Lucky Percival was there because Gwaine had a habit of taking matters into his own hands where his friends were concerned, but he didn't manage to do more than glare at the old woman, who stared back at him with almost something like resentment or anger in her eyes before it faded into a neutral expression, and Percival quickly approached Merlin and regarded him for a second before reaching down and hoisting the boy over his shoulder. He turned and barely gave Hilda a glance before nodding to Gwaine, expression grim.

They walked back briskly, again without words, with Hilda trailing behind them. Gwaine led the way, refusing to glance behind him at their precious bundle. Merlin was never still and never quiet, and when both those things happened at once, it was more than concerning.

Gaius was waiting outside the ruins and straightened up as the knights approached. Gwaine saw fear and weariness in the old man's eyes as he gave him a short nod and continued leading Percival into the ruins, heading for a rolled out blanket, knowing Gaius would follow them and be ready to treat his ward.

(Even that time they'd accidently left him behind in those caves. Gwaine still felt awful about that. And it might be a slight reason why he'd been sort of slightly avoiding Merlin since.)

He gently caught Merlin as Percival lowered him down, easing him to lay out on the blanket, paying attention to Gaius as the physician immediately leaned in to put a hand to Merlin's head where blood matted with dark hair, barely listening as Percival spoke up for the first time in response to Arthur's obvious question.

He also resisting snorting in disbelief when 'Hilda' suggested Merlin had fallen down by the river.

Yes, the boy was clumsy, of course he was. It was practically one of his charms, and even if you didn't witness it yourself somehow, Arthur would be more than willing to start complaining about everything the servant dropped or tripped over, including scaring prey during hunting trips, and walking into things occasionally, among other accidents. But he wasn't falling over by the river and smacking his head on a rock clumsy. Not to mention he wasn't wet at all. And had been found next to a tree. With a hand at his throat.

Not only did something not add up this time - absolutely none of it added up.

Still, at Gaius' usually steady words that it was just a head wound and Merlin should be fine, Gwaine let himself relax a small bit. But he didn't look up, frowning and focused on Merlin's pale face as he breathed steadily, and allowed that to comfort him, until Arthur addressed him directly.

He looked up obediently at the same time as Gaius focused back on Merlin, which was an unplanned good trade.

Even as Arthur ordered him to stay with the two - frankly Gwaine had been going to anyway, king's command or no - Gwaine took in Percival's worried expression, and gave him a nod. He would watch over their friend.

Orders given, the rest of the knights made to move out, several looking slightly troubled. Merlin was well-known at this point (how long had the boy been in Camelot? Longer than Gwaine, obviously; at least 6 years, from various implications in various conversations), even outside their round table circle.

But no one made a fuss. And soon, they were all ready to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is why I usually write one-shots. I find it so hard to keep a story going, especially regularly. But here, it got done in the end.


End file.
